Lost but making good time

Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 1st Corinthians 15:18

When I was a kid my Granddad would call on Saturday mornings and ask me to go on a short trip with him. It would be to visit a fellow retired postman who was sick or, even more exciting, to visit his relative a few hours away. I could never say no because I knew he wanted me to go and we always had a good time on the way to and from our destination. Granddaddy never really knew where he was going, but like me, he just headed in a direction he thought was right and hoped for the best. It usually worked out for us but we would always spend a little time lost. I could always tell when he did not know where he was going because he would stop talking and begin to look around for a familiar sign or location. I would say, “Granddaddy, are we lost”? He would usually answer with, “Yes, but we are making good time”. We always found our way and time never mattered much to my Grandfather.

Do you ever feel like you get all caught up in stuff that does not matter and it takes all your time away from what God has for your life? Maybe you feel like you don’t know where you are going, but you are making good time. Sometimes the world even tells you how good of a job you are doing but you know that you are really just moving in circles.

If our lives are committed to doing what God wants He promises to keep us on the correct path. We will not know what we may see along the trip but we will know our destination. I see people who remind me of my Granddaddy’s old saying. They are arguing with a friend over something trivial or they are upset over a meaningless issue. They are making good time through life, but they are lost. They are finding drama or creating drama, tweeting gossip, or facebooking (verb?) about how awesome their empty life may be. They are lost but making good time through life. They don’t know where they are going but they are speeding along the way.

Let’s do our best to not be that way. Pray and ask God to show you the direction He wants you to go and most importantly, who does He want you to take on the trip. Don’t get caught up in hurrying to the next stage of life or we will miss out on what God has for us along the way.


Chad

Who brings the rain?

He will be like rain falling on a mowed field, like showers watering the earth. Psalm 72:6

I have always loved the days when the rain comes. I guess it reminds me of when I was little and my best friend and I, if it was not lightning and if our moms said ok, would play outside in the rain. I don’t know what made it so cool. Maybe it was because all the “chickens” were inside and we seemed to have the entire neighborhood to ourselves. If it rained real hard there were some great mud puddles at East Lake Park to ride bikes through. I still love to stand in the garage and watch the rain. About a month ago, my wife and daughter were on a trip for the weekend and I was at home mowing the grass. Just as I was finishing a huge rainstorm passed through. I was glad to have finished the yard work and was also glad the grass was getting some much needed water. I was already hot and dirty from working, so when the rain started, I put away the lawnmower and weed eater and just walked around in the yard in the pouring rain.

It made me think about how the rain has an effect on us. It also has a great effect on a football team when the rain comes during practice. There is an excitement across the field mainly because everyone thinks practice may be cancelled. The linemen love it and the quarterbacks and wide receivers hate the rain. There is also nothing worse than a hot August practice when it rains for a few minutes and then the sun comes out and makes everyone miserable. The rain also serves several good purposes. The rain that falls brings life to all living things and without it everyone would die. It also cleanses the air we breathe and causes everything to grow. However, the rain can also cause severe damage. We hear about the rivers that rise and cause flooding and people lose their homes and sometimes their lives. Worst of all, it causes fumbles on Friday nights.

There is also rain that falls on us every day in the form of the challenges of life. Our lives are full of school, work, and athletics and each brings its own set of challenges and people. Challenges also come in the form of family problems, peer pressure, and worries about the future. These challenges individually or in small amounts serve to strengthen our character and deepen our reliance on our Heavenly Father. They are like the rain that comes in small amounts and nourishes the soil and cleans the air. They fall for a short while, but are soon gone and forgotten. Like the sudden storm that comes and the rain soaks everything, but the sun dries it up and we forget it ever rained. But the downpours of life, when it all hits us at once, come and we feel like we are drowning in the flood and become consumed with our worry. The consuming worries have the same effect as the floods. They ruin relationships, they destroy the foundation of a home, and most importantly, they create a disconnect from God.

Psalm 72:6 refers to the dew or rain that falls at night and serves to restore the pasture that has been eaten and trampled on during the day. Allow God to restore you every day. He will be like the dew that falls on a damaged field and restores it before it is chewed up and scarred from the challenges of the new day.

One question, are you in the middle of a flooding rain in your life? Ask Him to give you strength to survive the flood. Pray about and ask Him how He is trying to change you. The world will tell you to “fix it” yourself. Wait on Him. Also, thank Him for the challenge.


Chad

Jesus Calms the Storm

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Mark 4:35-41

Jesus must have been the same type of sleeper as my wife. He could sleep through anything! There have been nights when my wife has fallen asleep on the couch, moved to her bed, listened to one of my stories, a big storm blew against the house, I banged around in the garage making noise, and she never knew any of it happened. Picture in your head the story in verses 35-41. Jesus had been teaching a crowd of people and the disciples were with him. The crowd was so large; Jesus had gotten into a boat and was floating around just off-shore so the crowd would not get too close. When night came they decided to go to the other side. Remember, these were small handmade boats, without a motor, and without any U.S. Coast Guard to save you if you had a problem. The verses say that a furious storm came up and the waves broke over the boat, but Jesus was in the front of the boat sleeping on a cushion. The disciples were in a panic and they woke Jesus and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet” Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. I wonder if Jesus woke up with the same attitude as my wife when she has to wake up unexpectedly?

I would have been like the disciples if I had been on that boat. I would have thought, I have been with Him for all this time, have watched Him perform hundreds of miracles, but now I am going to die in a storm and He is sleeping through the whole thing. Can you imagine a God that can calm the seas? Anytime I am at the beach I love to get up early and walk down to the ocean and just watch it for a while. I am always amazed at the force of the waves and how uncontrollable they are. We serve a God that can calm the waves of the largest ocean and the winds that cause them. Just like the disciples that were in that boat, we begin to wonder where is He when a storm suddenly appears and we are being blown from side to side. Is He sleeping? Has he forgotten about me? I have faith that He is not asleep and he certainly has not forgotten about me. I sometimes have to be reminded of His promise to never leave me.

I prayed today that all of us would trust God to work a miracle each time we are faced with a storm. When the winds seem to blow us off course, pray that He will not only calm the storm but also set us back on the path that He has charted for us.


Chad

Made New

Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 2nd Corinthians 2:7-8

In 2nd Corinthians 2 Paul is writing about a man in the Corinthian church who had been spreading rumors about Paul and challenging his apostleship. Paul had forgiven the man but was disappointed that this man had not received any support from the other members. The church realized their fault and reprimanded the man. The man was repentant but the church would not truly forgive him. In verse 7 Paul says to the church, “forgive and comfort him; otherwise this one may be overwhelmed by excessive grief. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.

I have always liked taking something old, like a piece of furniture and sanding off all the old stains and finding out what the wood looked like when it was built. I remember refinishing the cabinets in our old house a few years ago. I have a tendency to overdo a project so before I started I was saying to myself, “just sand over them a little, you don’t have to get down to the bare wood”. I can never stop and I sand it down to where it looks like the wood is fresh from the lumber yard. I like to find out what is underneath the junk and there is something good about getting rid of the old and making something new and beautiful. Something that is old, but has been given “new” life is always prettier than something that is just new. After something is sanded back to its original look, it is always amazing how beautiful the wood is. I always regret having to cover it up again with something fake. As I think about our lives and our walk with Jesus, it is often difficult to get rid of the old. God created us as a new being but over time the world has left stains on us that hide the true beauty of what we are made of. We often try to remove a few of the ugly stains, but we try to hold onto a little of the old. The ugly part that we leave only ruins the look of the new. When I refinished our old cabinets, I wanted my wife to walk in and be amazed at what I had done. The only way I could make sure they looked new was to get rid of all the old. I sanded for hours and even spent about a week without fingerprints. I wanted to remove all the dents and marks that were left from years of wear and tear. If I had sanded a little of the old stain away and left the dents, the new paint would have only been a temporary cover of what was old. The ugly would have eventually shown back through. Sometimes in our lives, we have to ask God to return us to what he has planned for us. He promises to remove the dents and marks and cover us with a beautiful color that shows off what He has created.

I prayed today for God to restore me to what He has for my life. It is very easy to lose track of why I am here and who I am here to serve. He has an awesome plan for each of us and He gives us the tools we need. Allow Him to make you new and to remove all the dents and stains.

Chad

How strong is your foundation?

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  Matthew 7:25

One of the offensive linemen came by to see me today and asked me to help change the spikes on his cleats. The cleats have seven screw-on spikes that can be replaced, but he had worn his down so far, I could not remove them. Of course I was angry that he had not taken care of something that although small and unseen by the spectators is critical to his and our success. And I pinched my hand with the pliers, so I was real upset. For an offensive lineman the spikes on his shoes are very important for his job each day but especially on Friday night. To execute a block and move a defensive player he must have good spikes and each of the seven must be in solid contact with the ground. If one is missing he may lose the leverage and push he needs to move his opponent. Also, if he leans forward while blocking, only using the front 3 or 4 spikes, the ground will give away and he will usually fall on his face. I am constantly telling my guys at practice to “get all your spikes in the ground”. He has to have a firm foundation to keep pushing, remain balanced, and to be successful.

What can the seven spikes on the cleats stand for? I hope mine stand for Faith in Christ, Hope in His promises, Love He has for me regardless, Joy that He gives me even during difficult times, Goodness that He shows me each day, the Strength He gives me to stand up against Satan, and the Prayer I can use to speak to Him each day. They can also stand for my wife, my son, my daughter, my parents, and maybe even my in-laws!  At work they could be the men I coach alongside each day or the teachers I work with throughout the school year. The people who believe in me and keep me strong. I began thinking, am I someone’s spike? Am I a small piece of what keeps them firmly on the ground, pushing? 

Sometimes, just like the spikes on a player’s cleats, they become wore down to a point that the strong foundation develops a weak point. That spike must be restored and strengthened back to where God can use it along with the others.

Ask yourself a few questions today:
What do your seven “spikes” stand for?
Which one needs strengthening?
Are all seven firmly on the ground?
What gives you strength to stand and keep pushing?
Are you someone’s spike? 

Ask God today to show you the weak point in your foundation, to restore those weak points to full strength, and to use you to be a firm foundation for someone in your life.  

Chad